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sports Diasabra 5 Maart 2022

Judge approves fix to stem race bias in NFL concussion deal

(AP) — Black retired foot- expected to be significant,
ball players who were de- and potentially costly for the
nied payments for demen- NFL.
tia in the NFL’s $1 billion
concussion settlement can The agreement to end race-
seek to be retested or have norming follows months of
their claims rescored to closed-door negotiations be-
eliminate racial bias in the tween lawyers for the NFL,
testing and payout formu- the class counsel for the near-
la, under a revised plan fi- ly 20,000 retired players, and
nalized Friday. Smith and others represent-
ing Davenport and Henry.
Outrage over the use of “race- Ken Jenkins and his wife,
norming” in the dementia Amy Lewis, have also fought
testing — which assumed for the changes, gathering
that Black people have a low- thousands of petitions and
er cognitive baseline score, pressing the Civil Rights Di-
making it harder for them to vision of the Justice Depart-
show mental declines linked ment to investigate the al-
to football — forced the NFL leged discrimination.
and players’ lawyers back to
the negotiating table last year. The binary scoring system
used in dementia testing —
The revisions could allow one for Black people, one for
many retired players to re- everyone else — was devel-
submit their claims and add oped by neurologists in the
$100 million or more to the 1990s as a crude way to factor
NFL’s legal tab. The NFL, in a patient’s socioeconomic
through the fund, has paid background. Experts say it
out more than $800 mil- proved the negotiated chang- the claimed qualifying di- was never meant to be used
lion to date, nearly half for es in an order filed Friday. In one recent ruling that agnosis (of dementia),” said to determine payouts in a
dementia claims. The de- shows the difficulty families Hoffman, an expert in con- court settlement.
mentia awards average about More than 3,300 former have faced navigating the tract law at the University of
$600,000. players or their families have claims process, the reviewer Pennsylvania law school. However, it was adopted by
sought awards for brain in- bemoaned the long delays ex- both sides in the 2015 settle-
“Thousands of Black players juries linked to their play- perienced by the widow of a The player, a Black man who ment that resolved lawsuits
stand to benefit from these ing days, more than 2,000 former player found after his was 57 when he died, also had accusing the NFL of hiding
changes to the settlement,” of them for moderate to ad- 2019 death to have advanced his scores normed to account what it knew about the risk
said lawyer Cyril V. Smith, vanced dementia. CTE, or chronic traumatic for his race, age, education of repeated concussions.
who represents former play- encephalopathy. and other factors, in keeping
ers Najeh Davenport and The dementia cases have with the protocols used at the The 65-year settlement also
Kevin Henry, whose 2020 proven the most contentious, His medical records show time. According to Hoffman, grants financial awards to ex-
race discrimination lawsuit and only 3 in 10 claims have “progressive cognitive decline his claim would not qualify players with Alzheimer’s dis-
brought the issue to light. been paid to date. Another and unrebutted evidence that for an award even if his tests ease, Parkinson’s disease and
one-third have been denied, he suffered from CTE at the were rescored under the new Amyotrophic Lateral Sclero-
Senior U.S. District Judge and the rest remain in lim- time of his death,” reviewer race-blind formula. sis. It does not cover CTE —
Anita B. Brody in Philadel- bo, often as the claim goes David Hoffman wrote. which some call the signature
phia, who has overseen the through several layers of re- The vast majority of the disease of football — except
NFL concussion case for a view by the claims adminis- “But those diagnoses, and the league’s players — 70% of for men diagnosed with it
decade, dismissed their law- trator, medical and legal con- supporting medical records, active players and more than posthumously before April
suit but ordered the parties to sultants, audit investigators do not fit into the settle- 60% of living retirees — are 2015, a deadline set to avoid
address the problem. She ap- and judges. ment’s prescribed boxes for Black. So the changes are incentivizing suicides.

RCR heads into Las Vegas confident a victory is within reach

(AP) — Tyler Reddick led out of the race he climbed went on to finish third and before he was doomed by a eight seasons.
51 laps in NASCAR’s sea- into the stands to high- salvage the day for Richard flat tire; Dillon was runner-
son-opening exhibition, five fans. Childress Racing. But the up to winner Larson. Dillon, his grandson, scored
and when a mechanical race didn’t mean anything, so the last RCR victory at Tex-
problem knocked him Austin Dillon, meanwhile, nothing to see here, right? Now as NASCAR rolls into as in 2020 and RCR has not
its third race of the season been a credible champion-
Not so fast, said reigning Sunday at Las Vegas Motor ship contender for years. But
NASCAR champion Kyle Speedway, the RCR cars re- the organization has high
Larson, who before the Day- ally do seem much improved. hopes for NASCAR’s new
tona 500 listed Reddick as a So much so that Richard Next Gen race car and the
driver to watch this season. Childress expects to be mak- early commitment to that
ing multiple trips to victory effort from Chevrolet and
Dillon and Reddick didn’t lane this season. ECR Engines.
show much in the Daytona
500, but when NASCAR Childress is a NASCAR Hall It took reigning NASCAR
shifted last week to Auto of Famer who has fielded champion Kyle Larson only
Club Speedway in California, Cup Series cars for 49 years, two races to get back into
RCR was again very good. tallying six championships victory lane with his win last
Reddick led a race-high 90 with the late Dale Earnhardt weekend in California. He’ll
laps last Sunday — a career and 109 victories. But the last try to make it two-in-a-row
high for Reddick — and won decade has been lean with at Las Vegas, where he’s the
the first two stages of the race only four wins over the last defending race winner.